Hand in Hand
by LarcSakurai
Summary: Lexaeus/Vexen After a heated argument Lexaeus does something he regrets and tries to make it up to Vexen
1. Chapter 1

Strong walls shuddered and groaned with the collapse of the earth master atop his little scientist, two voices breathing heavy pants in each other's ear. Eyes dazed with raw ecstasy locked and they smiled. A tender hand from the giant brushed against bony cheeks admiring Vexen's supple skin. He was so small and fragile. Porcelain beneath his touch. One false move could snap his beloved in two. Yet Vexen danced with this danger addicted to the thrill of the mighty drug sedated in his arms.

Lexaeus gently brushed at the scars littering Vexen's chest, some red and ugly, unhealed. The scientist winced, squirming away from the painful touches. He had suffered great punishment from Marluxia for his failure with the replica. As if threatening the elder with Xemnas wasn't enough the flowering sadist had to have "fun" with him before he was satisfied. Vexen could hardly describe being bound by thorny vines, whipped, and raped as fun. It wasn't unusual for Vexen to stumble into the basement and crawl into bed covered in blood. Lexaeus, the strong and silent, would cradle his beloved in his arms and gently treat his wounds, purifying the blonde's body of any trace of Marluxia once he was well enough to do so.

Lexaues was not a vengeful person. Holding grudges was pitiful and immature.

He hated Marluxia.

Vexen endured far more than physical pain at Marluxia's hands. Emotionally the rapes had begun to take a strong toll on Vexen. He wouldn't change in front of Lexaeus anymore. Stripping him for sex was a chore in itself, the blonde often retaliating terrified to let Lexaeus see his body. Patience was a long rope for the Silent Hero and it was wearing dangerously thin. If he was going to be destroyed for defending his Academic against a rebellious rapist than so be it.

"Vexen.." He feathered soft kisses along the scars, "You know you're beautiful.."

"Don't start that." Vexen hissed, trying to pull away, "I'm nothing special."

Strong hands kept the blonde pinned. The scientist kicked and bit at his lover trying to scramble away. Vexen loved Lexaeus but the man was a danger in himself: He didn't always know his own strength.

"You are special!" The grip tightened and Vexen winced. "To me you are! I don't give a DAMN what Marluxia says about you! You're beautiful! My Even, my quirky scientist. My heart!"

"You're blind, Lexaeus! I'm nothing! Do you hear me?! I'm nothing! I'm a FAILURE as a scientist!"

"THAT'S ENOUGH!"

A hard smack threw Vexen's head back, then silence, and he screamed, scrambling away from his stunned lover. The world froze for an instant, steel and emerald battling back and forth the questions unspoken. Why did he hit me? Why did I hit him? It was an accident, wasn't it? I thought he'd never abuse me, why did he...?

Finally Lexaeus found his voice, reaching for Vexen. "V-Vexen, I-"

"GET OUT!" Vexen's voice threatened to break, pointing at the door. "GET OUT OF MY BEDROOM, GET OUT OF MY LAB!"

"Vexen I..." Lexaeus tried to reach for him, the blonde smacking his hand away.

"I SAID GET OUT OF HERE! I DON'T EVER WANT TO SEE YOU IN HERE OR MY LABORATORY AGAIN! GET AWAY FROM ME!" Lexaeus stepped back from the bed picking up his coat from the floor and pulling it on. Across the room Vexen collapsed to his knees, fighting the shuddering wracking his tiny body threatening sobs. Pain knotted Lexaeus' stomach, stinging his chest with bitter regret. His instinct screamed to run over and coddle the blonde and make him stop crying. To soothe the burn of his cheek that was a thousand times more painful than any of those scars weaved across his back.

Lexaeus dragged himself out the room and through the lab, tears burning his own eyes as the screams of frustration and betrayal echoed through the hollow room. Nothing Marluxia had ever done to Vexen hurt more than that simple slap on the cheek. He could be beaten, raped, and tortured as long as Lexaeus was there to bandage him up and protect him in the end. Now the one he cherished the most had turned his back on him.. But.. Lexaeus punched the nearest wall shaking loose dust from the cieling. It was an accident...

Slumping down against the wall of some bright white room upstairs Lexaeus lay his head back against the wall and allowed himself the privelege of a few stray tears.

If he had a heart, this is where it would break.


	2. Chapter 2

She had seen the man a few times before but she didn't know his name or anything about him, other than he was one of the "Underground Members" as Marluxia called them. He was a giant man and it frightened her. Yet this newcomer seemed disinterested in the little bird. He could have very easily killed her with those giant hands. Silently he moved across the room and sat in a corner staring out at nothing. He didn't speak, didn't move. Just sat there like a statue. It didn't even look like he was breathing.

Against better judgement Namine rose and approached this stranger's side, reaching out to cautiously brush his shoulder. He never moved. She touched his hair and there was a flitter of movement in his eyes. The stranger remained silent, didn't even look at her. He smelled strange, like Marluxia did when he came back from the underground labs. Namine didn't know what he did in there but from the blood on his hands and the white on his legs she had a pretty good idea.

"Excuse me...?" she touched his shoulder again and he looked up. His face was as rough and strong as the rest of him. She took a step back, better to be safe than sorry. "Umm.. w-who are you?"

Something flickered across his eyes. "Lexaeus." Then he turned away.

"Lexaeus.. umm..." he didn't look back at her. Brutish as Lexaeus was she was relatively certain he wasn't protection from her captors. He never bothered to come topside so honestly Namine didn't concern him or the other two as her captors. They were instead captives, much like she. She'd seen their Superior once or twice and the absolute control he exuded over them. He made Marluxia lord and master and nothing was going to change this. They were no better than Vexen's lab rats, running circles around a cage longing for the freedom beyond solid white walls.

"Are.. you alright?" He wasn't like the others. Lexaeus was different.

He looked at her again and something swelled in the metallic depths. Pain.. Loneliness... He'd done something he regretted. He turned back to the wall and remained silent.

"You won't get anywhere with that one." Behind her Larxene came in, snickering at the lamenting Hero. "Dumb as a box of rocks he is." she cackled at her own stupid joke but Lexaeus made no move to defend himself. Larxene didn't know when to quit, strolling forward and brushing his cheek gently. A little spark crossed his skin but he remained stiff. She didn't even phase him.

"This stupid brute just doesn't get it. He's so boring." she knelt down annd pulled closer, his face centimeters from her grand chest. "Letting himself be torn in half by the bitter waste of winter. That feeble little scienti--" Namine screamed, ducking for cover behind the chair as Lexaeus suddenly leaped to his feet, slamming the Savage Nymph against the wall. His fist buried deep in her gut and she gagged, tossed uselessly aside to the door. Something else burned in his eyes now. Anger.. rage.. hate.

"Don't.. EVER.. talk about Vexen that way again." he went and sat down back in his corner, leaving Larxene to limp away out the door. Something miraculous slipped down the brute's cheek. A tear. He was crying?

So.. it was Vexen trouble?

Namine ventured closer to Lexaeus, kneeling next to the large man and brushing away his tears. He flinched at her touch but she continued, letting him lament. She knew now nobodies could feel just as well as any human could. She saw it here, in the eyes of a man who knew he still had emotions locked away somewhere. She'd seen them here right now, so many of them in so short a time. Indifference to something strange, anger when his lover was insulted, love when he defended Vexen's pride, and pain for whatever had happened between them.

"So.. you and Vexen fought?" Lexaeus cringed. Namine took his hand, Lexaeus looking down to their palms. How tiny hers was against him. Small, supple and frail. Long fingers sculpted carefully by her art.. So tender and prim against his rough, calloused hand. Just like Vexen.

"Yes.." he finally broke, "We.. argued. I tire of him beating himself up and degrading himself because of what Marluxia says and does to him... I.. I never meant to hit him.."

"I understand." Namine held the giant's hand tighter, "I can see.. you truly do care for Vexen.. or you wouldn't be up here shedding tears for him. I wasn't really sure of nobodies could feel until I saw it. And.. I think." she held his hand tighter, "If you truly love Vexen you should go back down there and apologize. Explain yourself to him like you did to me."

Lexaeus eyed the little shell next to him, brushing back her bangs. He had never meant to hurt him. He loved Vexen with all that remained of his being, he would fight and fade if it meant defending the honor and life of the Chilly Academic. He wanted to run back to the slender arms and make him understand, make him forgive. Feel the cool lips against his, drown in frozen emeralds, meld into the beautiful scientist and consume him, make him whole again. He wanted nothing more than to atone for his sins and make Vexen see how beautiful he truly was.

"Thank you, Namine." Lexaeus rose and gave her a little smile. "Wish me good fortune."

Namine smiled, waving as he disappeared into the shadows.

"Good luck, Lexaeus."

If he had a heart this is where it would race.


	3. Chapter 3

Down below things had remained untouched. Zexion dozed in a corner beneath a blanket, whatever tome he'd immersed himself in forgotten in slumber. He smiled, tucking the thick material tighter around the little Schemer and kissing his brow. He was the watchdog for the basement, always protecting and guarding his companions. Little Ienzo had always been his favorite of the apprentices after Even.

Now he charged unto the battlefield, into the confines of the dungeon bedroom where his beloved lay at unrest. Vexen watched his every move, the air in the room snapping frozen instantly. The temperature dropped with every inch closer he grew until ice crystals hung in space, Vexen freezing the very oxygen around them. It was no warning. It was a threat. A very dangerous threat. Lexaeus reached the bed and snatched Vexen's hand into his, lacing their finegrs lovingly. Throughout his body frost raged, freezing the water within. Lexaeus made no move to defend himself. He knew all it would take was time to kill him now, his lips already purple with chill. Vexen frowned and threw a thick blanket around Lexaeus's shoulders, the frost melting away.

"You would have let me kill you without a fight, wouldn't you?" Vexen pulled the blanket tighter around his lover.

"I would." his voice ached with hurt that Vexen would even consider, "If it is what you wanted..."

Vexen leaned close and wrapped his arms around Lexaeus's thick neck, pulling himself as close to the other's body as he could get. He overreacted as Lexaeus had some hours prior. He knew the brunette loved him enough to entrust the scientist with his very life. No, it was more than that... In that instant Vexen had seen something that Lexaeus saw everyday, with every touch and every whisper, every move of that giant body against and within him.

Frailty.

Lexaeus in that instat had been frozen through, the seemingly invincible man rendered completely helpless by the frost within him. If Vexen willed he could have chilled the air from his lungs, clogged his veins with ice and snow and watched him wither and die. Such an easy manuever. He wanted Vexen to understand what he saw. Shake him back into common sense again. Needless to say it worked.

"My love.." Lexaeus drew Vexen closer. "I never meant to hurt you.. I forget my own might.. how frail you are... I never meant to ever bring harm to you.. just as you never meant to bring harm to me but moments ago."

"Lexaeus I-" Any protest was swallowed into the brunette's strong mouth, tongues dancing feeding off sweet passion and adrenaline rumbling deep in their bodies. How easily they were swept away from reality into this realm where only they existed.

"Shh.. be silent, Vexen." Lexaeus pet the soft blonde strands, "There is no need to fear, no concern for words. We are safe here, together and warm in each other's arms. Whole... " He brushed a hand over the cheek where the red mark had faded, "I just wish you forgive me for what I did."

Vexen reached up to lace their fingers, falling back hand in hand to the sheets with his beloved safe by his side. Even the winter needed summer's flame to exist, lest it be permanently frozen and forget what it meant to love in such an empty world.

"My brave fool." Vexen kissed his hand, watching thieir palms with a content smile. "Of course I do."

If he had a heart, this is where it would beat.


End file.
